Casino Royale

Director: Martin Campbell

2006 / 144min / DCP

Daniel Craig’s first outing as MI6 agent James Bond—adapting the first Bond novel by Ian Fleming—sent 007 on a mission to stop Mads Mikkelsen’s high-rolling terrorist financier, and also revitalized the franchise with its earthbound, error-prone, vulnerable take on Bond and its abundance of stunning action set pieces taking place in Prague, the Bahamas and, in the film’s unforgettably bleak climax, on the shores of Italy’s Lake Como. “I consider Daniel Craig to be the most effective and appealing of the six actors who have played 007, and that includes even Sean Connery.”—Andrew Sarris, The New York Observer